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How To Create VAST Tags

A VAST tag is essentially a third-party ad tag generated by an ad server, except that it’s for video ads.

VAST stands for Video Ad Serving Template. It enables video players to sync with ad servers, thus as an advertiser, you can serve ads into multiple ad inventories within video ad players. Put simply, it enables your video ads to appear correctly on video players, across different publishers and ad networks.

As an advertiser, you don’t have to build your own ad server. Simply pick a reliable third-party video ad server that supports VAST. A good video ad server should also have detailed reporting, auditing & split-testing tools.

Difference Between VAST XML and VAST URL

VAST tag come in 2 formats, the VAST URL and VAST XML. Knowing which one to generate for depends on the DSP you are using – some DSPs only accept VAST URL tags.

The VAST XML format is preferable if your DSP support both formats.

Once you know which VAST format to use in your DSP, let’s look at using MobileAds’ VAST XML generator to create VAST tags:

How To Use MobileAds’ VAST Tag Generator

Upon logging into the dashboard, simply click on ‘Upload Ad’ and choose to create a video ad.

Next, upload your video ad in mp4 format. Make sure to put in your landing page URL, so users can click through your video ad and land on a designated landing page.

A video ad is usually 15-seconds and maximum 30-seconds long. Once you upload your ad, simply give your video ad a name and save it into a campaign. You can add more video ads to the same campaign for A/B testing purposes.

It’ll take a few minutes for the video conversion to be ready. Once done, simply turn your ads to active and use the VAST ad tag generator to get an ad tag for the DSP or traffic source you’re planning to run your ads in.

That’s it. Copy the ad tag and use it in a DSP (Demand-Side Platform), where audience targeting is done.

As your campaign runs, you can track detailed video ad metrics from within the MobileAds reporting dashboard.